11 Everyday Lifestyle Habits

Recap

Understanding your thinking (e.g. the negativity bias and overthinking) – letting your thoughts ‘just be’ and setting up a ‘worry period’
Understanding your behaviour – setting goals to do things that matter to you
Pacing yourself and doing ‘time not task’ to make sure your functional neurological symptoms don’t get worse

Poor lifestyle habits are the biggest reason for developing chronic (long-term) health conditions such, as diabetes, heart disease, gastric conditions, and mental health conditions, such as depression. This affects how much time we spend in the amber and red zone.

That’s why how you look after yourself day-to-day is really important. What you eat, drink and how much you move your body has the biggest effect on your health. Without your basic needs being met, your body cannot work as well as it needs to.

This section gives you some ideas of small habits that you can introduce into your day.

Food

What you eat can have a knock-on effect to your physical and emotional health. Imagine your body like a car. It needs the right fuel for it to run properly. Eating well gives your body the best chance of functioning properly.

One small change you could try and introduce today could be:

Have breakfast if you usually skip it e.g. toast with peanut butter
Swap one unhealthy snack for a healthier snack e.g. crisps  fruit or healthier crisps (Popchips, Properchips, SunBites)
Add one piece of fruit or vegetable to a meal.

Drink

The things you drink can also have a knock-on effect to your physical and emotional health. Supermarkets sell lots of unhealthy drinks, like alcohol or energy drinks. Fruit juices, squash, and fizzy drinks also contain a lot of sugar. If you look back at the traffic lights, the way you feel when drinking alcohol or energy drinks might be similar to the amber and red zones. This is because they are causing adrenaline and cortisol to be released, which has the same effect.

One small change you could try and introduce today could be swapping one unhealthy drink that you might normally have for a glass of water.

Movement

Movement is really important for your body. This can sometimes be really tricky with functional neurological symptoms, but even a little bit of movement is great. Gentle exercise can be added into your day-to-day life at your own pace. This can help to relax any tense muscles you might have from being in the amber or red zone and improves the functioning of the nervous system.

One small change you could try and introduce today could be:

Going to the upstairs toilet instead of the downstairs toilet
Gentle exercise or stretches in bed
Gentle exercise or stretches whilst sat in a chair, like rotating your wrists and ankles
Taking a short walk
Doing some gentle yoga.

Your GP will be able to give you more information on the types of movement that you can do if you’re not sure.

Sleep

We spoke about vicious cycles in module 2 and sleep can be one of them. When we sleep, our body rests and recovers. When we get into bad routines with our sleep, it can make functional neurological symptoms worse, which then causes more difficulties with sleeping. Some tips for better sleep include:

Cutting down on caffeine and alcohol
Sleeping in a dark, quiet, cool room
Staying off your phone and other electronic devices an hour before sleeping
Trying the body scan strategy.

Substance Misuse

We all have some lifestyle habits that aren’t good for our health, and they can be really difficult to change. One way that helps is to find a motivating reason to make a change. For example, can we save up money for something important to us by reducing a particular unhelpful lifestyle habit that we have? What else could you be spending that money on? Even cutting down slightly on the number of cigarettes that you smoke would save you money and be a big achievement.

Prescribed Medication

Some people with FND have been on medication for a long time. When we have repeat prescriptions, we don’t always get the chance to discuss any potential benefits of reducing or stopping medications. Some have side-effects that cause extra stress to the body. You can contact your GP for a medication review if you would like to consider this further.

By introducing one small change today you will be starting to reduce your physical stress levels, which means improving your wellbeing and your functional neurological symptoms. Which one of these lifestyle changes will you try and when?

Knowledge Check

Questions

Poor lifestyle habits are the biggest reason for developing chronic (long-term) physical and mental health conditions. TRUE or FALSE?
Making one small change is a big achievement. TRUE or FALSE?
You can go at your own pace when exercising. TRUE or FALSE?

Answers

Poor lifestyle habits are the biggest reason for developing chronic (long-term) physical and mental health conditions. TRUE or FALSE?

TRUE, all of the factors listed above contribute to developing chronic physical and mental health conditions.
Making one small change is a big achievement. TRUE or FALSE?

TRUE, making one small change is a big achievement. One small change is a great start to making your functional neurological symptoms better.
You can go at your own pace when exercising. TRUE or FALSE?

TRUE, it is really important to go at your own pace when exercising or doing movement activities. Listening to your body can help keep you in the green zone.